2023-09-07 18:45:50
BarcelonaThe cuts plan at Barça continues to experience episodes due to the delicate financial situation that the club is going through and goes beyond the sections and the workers. Now those affected are the players of the youth team and also the residents of La Masia, among whom is Lamine Yamal, the new sensation of the first team. Is The voice of the people for weeks Barça has dispensed with certain services it offered to youth players. For example, the organization has taken the decision to do without the taxi service that it had for more than 25 years and that was used to take nearly 80% of the players from the Blaugrana squad to their respective training sessions at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper .
This is the main novelty that the new head of the training center, Andrei Xepkin, ex-Barça handball legend and ex-teammate and close friend of Enric Masip, right-hand man of president Joan Laporta, will have to deal with. The 58-year-old Barça midfielder was announced this Wednesday, coinciding with the return to school of primary school students, as the new head of La Masia in place of Mike Puig, who took over from Xavi in 2021 Martín, terminated by the new board after the elections. After retiring, Xepkin has had a modest career as a coach in lower categories. He also named the Sant Feliu de Llobregat sports hall.
No taxi service in the entire territory
Barça had contracted 30 vehicles and 40 drivers who moved throughout the territory to transport the youngest players who did not live at La Masia from the school gate itself to Sant Joan Despí. And then return them home. Many of them late at night. Joan Laporta has been in charge of Barça for more than two years now and, despite having promised to boost La Masia, Bartomeu’s financial inheritance has forced him to change his plans and tighten his belt in this regard. Currently, up to 90 athletes reside in the center, but during the day around 800 young athletes who do not sleep in the facilities can pass through.
Despite not exceeding the 500,000 euros of the annual budget, the decision to withdraw the cars has not left anyone indifferent, especially the parents of those affected, who have seen how the club has changed the agreed conditions. Many of them do not have the time or the resources that this decision obliges them to do. However, five alternative bus routes replace the taxi service. They leave from Tarragona, Lleida, Girona, Vic and Manresa, where parents will have to take their children if they don’t want to do so directly to the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper, in Sant Joan Despí. The service started on Tuesday. “Without incidents”, point out from the Blaugrana offices.
However, and despite this possibility, there are parents who have already shown their disapproval, as they feel deceived, and do not rule out severing the link with the Catalan entity. The others affected are the coaches, who, seeing the reaction of the relatives to the news, fear that they will be without some of the pearls of the squad.
“It is a decision that not only affects the footballers, but also all the other sections, and I know that there are youngsters who will not be able to go to training. What may initially seem like a saving in the long run may end up costing us more . Who tells you that by sparing here we are not missing out on the next Lamine Yamal or Ansu Fati?”, says a former manager of the club with resignation. All the players in the squad in one way or another, with more or less frequency, have been users of this service, a key factor when negotiating additions to the Blaugrana club, which with this loss sees how the squads of the ‘Espanyol and Girona advance on the right.
No on-site meals or housing for older youth
Apart from taxis, La Masia has also stopped offering the dining service in the facilities. The nutritional plan has also been affected by the club’s cutbacks policy and, at present, only the first team maintains the full pension, which Xavi reinstated when he returned as manager. With the aim of building unity and group cohesion, the players and the coaching staff eat meals together in the dining room at La Masia, but Rafa Márquez’s side will have to leave these services aside.
During the last few years, the youth footballers had breakfast and lunch at the Ciutat Esportiva and, although it had never been compulsory to do so, now they will not have the possibility to choose and will have to settle for only the first meal. In this way, the control of the nutrition of the younger ones is also lost, a key aspect when it comes to performing on the field of play, staying fit and avoiding injuries.
On the other hand, Barça has a fleet of flats for the players who live in La Masia, who have the option of becoming independent during the third year of youth or wait until they are of age, when it is already compulsory to leave the centre. During the last few years, and in this framework of cuts, this aspect has also been damaged. Some players in particular and sportsmen in the professional sections had to look for alternatives, as the club stopped supplying them with this help.
“When I was a teenager, I asked to settle in La Masia, since it was impossible for me to stay at home because of the schedule. I studied, ate and slept there. By the time I turned 18, as a general rule I couldn’t share a residence with minors and what the club usually does is give you an allowance to share a flat with teammates. In my case, however, because of the club’s financial situation, I was telling me to look for my life, that they couldn’t pay for my stay”, said a former Barça player and resident of La Masia.
Paco Seirul·lo’s buit
In 2019, La Masia was reformed, which incorporated a number of improvements, such as the introduction of girls to the center, which to date only accommodated boys. The training center, which until then was a pioneer, has been losing its effectiveness: the weekly meetings and talks of the top managers with the coaches and workers of grassroots football and the methodology area led by Paco Seirul·lo, probably the man who he knows the Barça DNA better, and Isaac Guerrero, his right-hand man. The head of psychology, Anna Merayo, who had been at the club for 15 years and has not yet been relieved, has also been dispensed with.
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